Crock-Pot Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup
I love coming back home to a hot slow cooked meal, a few other crock pot favorites are Brown Sugar Baked Beans, Chickpea Sweet Potato Stew, and Navy Bean Bacon and Spinach Soup.
This started out as an experiment, and ended as a soup. I never know what to expect when I throw something in the slow cooker, I wanted to see if I can cook white beans in the crock pot without soaking them first. The answer is yes you can; it took about 3-4 hours on high. But they basically looked like cooked beans in water, not like a thick pot of beans that I imagined. The quick solve was turning this into a great tasting soup. As a kid, I remember my Mom pureeing all my soups to make me eat them. As an adult, I tend to still like my beans pureed in my soup. You can leave some beans whole as I did to give it some texture, or blend the whole thing, up to you.
My method for roasting garlic is a little unconventional, I peel my cloves before roasting because I prefer not to have to do it after. Completely up to you how you roast your garlic, the end result is the same. If you are pressed for time, and wish to skip the roasted garlic, it will still taste wonderful. I personally think adding them makes it go from good to great. Note: if you want to make this vegetarian, substitute the chicken bouillon for vegetable.
